Environmental Risk Communication through Qualitative Risk Assessment

Quantitative Validation of Control Bands Using Bayesian Statistical Analyses

This study presents a quantitative validation of 15 Similar Exposure Groups (SEGs) that were derived via control bands inherent to the Risk Level Based Management System currently being used at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. For 93% of the SEGs that were evaluated, statistical analyses of personal exposure monitoring data, through Bayesian Decision Analysis (BDA), demonstrated that the controls implemented from the initial control bands assigned to these SEGs were at least as protective as the controls from the control band outcomes derived from the quantitative data. The BDA also demonstrated that for 40% of the SEGs, the controls from the initial control bands were overly protective, thus allowing controls to be downgraded, which resulted in a significant saving of environmental safety and health (ES&H) resources. Therefore, as a means to both confirm existing controls and to identify candidate SEGs for downgrading controls, efforts to continuously improve the accuracy of Control Banding (CB) strategies through the routine quantitative validation of SEGs are strongly encouraged. Targeted collaborative efforts across institutions and even countries for both the development of CB strategies and the validation of discreetly defined SEGs of commonly performed tasks will not only optimize limited ES&H resources but will also assist in providing a simplified process for essential risk communication at the worker level to the benefit of billions of workers around the world.

Qualitative Approach to Environmental Risk Assessment in Transport

The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a qualitative approach to environmental risk assessment (QAERA) in transport. The approach is described as a model developed for the future software tool which will be utilizable as a risk decision support system. The basic part is aimed on developing a quantitative environmental risk assessment. Thus, this paper describes a set of 6 pillars of safety and security. Accordingly, the paper contains both chosen safety and security indicators and selected criteria for assessing the risk of launching the environmental change of global model thinking in the transport sector. The environmental risk assessment as a global model of thinking was originally based on historical experience but, nowadays, it is changing. Based on new expert knowledge, more precisely, on input of new global data, paper displays an environmental risk assessment with actual interpretation. The discussion of the paper is oriented to support research results, a new knowledge-oriented approach to global climate changes, using suitable risk assessment methods and technics. The result of the paper is a new approach for the modeling of environmental risk assessment in the transport sector.

A Quantitative Validation of the Control Banding Nanotool

Eleven years (by publication) years after the development and application of the control banding (CB) Nanotool for the qualitative assessment and control of engineered nanoparticles (ENP), there remains no quantitative gold standard to serve as an alternative to the qualitative assessment. Many CB models have been developed during the years subsequent to the initial development of the CB Nanotool and the literature continues to blossom with comparisons and applications of these various tools; however, these developments have hitherto been made in the absence of validating and verifying their effectiveness using existing, albeit limited, quantitative methods. This paper reviews the existing literature on the CB Nanotool to evaluate its effectiveness in a variety of settings and presents a summary of qualitative and quantitative information from its application in a broad range of ENP handling activities performed in two different research institutions. A total of 28 ENP activities were assessed using the CB Nanotool (Version 2.0). Due to the lack of guidance on a single exposure assessment methodology, a combination of real-time monitoring, filter analysis, and microscopic analysis was used to assess various quantitative metrics, including mass concentration, particle number concentration, and particle speciation. All the results indicated that the control outcomes from the CB Nanotool qualitative assessment were sufficient to prevent workers from being exposed to ENP at levels beyond established exposure limits or background levels. These data represent an independent quantitative validation of CB Nanotool risk level outcomes and give further credence to the use of the CB Nanotool to effectively control worker exposures in the absence of quantitative air monitoring results.